Childcare, Work Life Balance and Parental Well-Being in Japan

Profil :
Barbara G. HOLTHUS holds a Ph.D. in Japanese Studies from the University of Trier, Germany, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Hawaii. Since March 2007, she is a
senior research fellow at the German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo (DIJ). Her research focuses on demographic change and childcare, work-life balance, well-being, marriage and family, social movements, as well as the role of the media in society. She is currently
leading the DIJ project “Parental Wellbeing: Comparing Germany and Japan”.

Résumé :
Over the last decades, the number of people deciding to become parents in Japan has
significantly declined. Numerous family policies have been implemented to counter this
trend, so far with meager success.
 Japan’s family policies can be broadly distinguished into three dimensions: “time,”
“infrastructure,” and “money”. The most recent monetary family policy in Japan is the
childcare allowance. “Time” has been on the forefront of measures to increase the low
fertility rate since the implementation of work-life balance measures. Yet the oldest low
fertility countermeasures are those to improve the “infrastructure” for parents, such as
the increase in daycare facilities.
 Do these policies find approval among parents? What are the most important needs
that parents voice? How satisfied are parents with family policies?
This seminar tries to provide answers to these questions by using survey and ethnographic
data of parents of young children throughout Japan.

Moderator: Hélène LE BAIL (MFJ, UMIFRE 19)

Organization: Bureau français de la MFJ

Co-organization: CCIFJ

2013-06-20_LS_Holthus_HLB.pdf